Do some teachers lie?

The simple answer is yes…

(and the media helps them)

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — It’s the first day of early voting in North Carolina and teachers all across the mountains say they’re ready for change. Many, in Buncombe County, are preparing to “march to the polls” this weekend. Educators across the state have created apple endorsement cards to educate teachers on the candidates committed to improving public education.

“We have to act. We have to vote. We have to figure this out,” said Angie Cathcart, Asheville City Association of Educators president.This is her 29th year as a teacher. “I know what it feels like to be in a state that values public education and the value that it brings to every citizen in the state,” Cathcart said.

She, and other educators, hope to see the polls packed with voters this weekend.

“The current General Assembly has, over the past eight or so years, chipped away at public education to the point where it’s really impacting our students,” Cathcart added.

Sounds good? Well maybe, but not if you are into the truth. Here’s the truth-

Average teacher salary in 2018-2019 – $53,600

Average pay raise under Republicans since 2013 – $8,600

Average percentage pay increase since 2013 – 19%

Number of consecutive teacher pay raises – 5

Percentage pay increase vetoed by Democrat Governor – 9.5%

Number of teachers who have received at least at $10,000 raise under Republicans – 44,647

How have your raises been over that same period. Does it really sound like Republicans are indifferent to teachers, students and education? For some really revealing statistics, look at what Democrats did to education before Republicans won the majority.

In his 1980’s book “People of the Lie” Christian psychiatrist Scott Peck famously declared we were creating a generation of liars in business, politics, business, religion and education that would one day take the heart out of America. We are there.

Unfortunately, some teachers do lie – and some apparently also (at least by photo evidence) steal. A teacher willing to lie to parents to win power will lie to children for the same reason. Why? Because the best liars lie to themselves first.

WLOS helped some dishonest teachers echo their deceptions by giving three of their voices coverage with no countering input from the conservative side of the equation. That’s called advocacy journalism – and it’s just as dangerous as teachers of the lie…

7 Comments

Daniel Withrow
on October 21, 2018 at 3:04 pm

Republicans took over the North Carolina legislature in 2011. Why do you ignore the first two years of pay freezes under the Republican Legislature, starting your statistics in 2013 instead?

I was hired in 2007. Republican pay raises have not kept up with my salary schedule from 2007, when adjusted for inflation. Because of Republican policies, I have lost nearly $50,000 in income during the time they have controlled the legislature.

I encourage people to visit the Department of Public Instruction website, look up the salary schedules for the last decade, and perform their own analysis.

Hi Daniel – thank you for raising the question and revealing your agenda. When Republicans took over in 2011, they inherited a Democratic bureaucracy in place since the eighteen-hundreds, a struggling NC economy, regressive tax policies, a busted state budget and years of teacher neglect by the Democratic Party. That’s why it took two years to start dramatically reversing your party’s corruption and neglect of our teachers, education system and budgetary integrity.

May we add another point – you are cherry picking a time when wage stagnancy has been an across the board phenomena amidst most every career path. Under Republican leadership our state – compared to our peers – has done an admirable job of playing catch-up. This and your earlier purposeful deceptions give us another example of the ‘teacher of the lie’ approach to education politics.

Agenda’s aside, let’s talk about the endgame. We can back and forth all day about what you say the average teacher salary is, and how the number’s may be complete lies, or even just skewed…and we don’t have to agree on the answer to that because the fact is, young people today, do not want to go into the education field, (as evidenced by the continued decline of students enrolling in these degree programs across our state) and poor salaries and funding for education is just one of the reasons. So we can debate salaries all day, and who has done what for whom. In the end, regardless of who is at fault, SOMEONE MUST step up to the plate and really FIX IT, otherwise, very soon there wont be licensed teachers to teach our children and that will be a problem for GOP, DEM, Liberals and Conservatives alike.

Hi Mike – thank you for your measured and balance take on this issue. We agree that reducing central control of the classroom, correcting the improper balance of teacher responsibility without matching authority,school safety, increasing parental accountability, introducing competition, etc. are some of the possibilities – in addition to more pay – that will renew the historic “call of the wild” that once more ably captured so many teacher’s hearts.

Of course not, Joanne. Do you have another point to make re. how the Legislature treats teachers. Please ask us and we will respond. The General Assembly loves our NC teachers. I will work for better communication between the teachers, school administration, and our school board to get more attention from the Legislature so that our unique needs and issues are addressed out here in W. North Carolina. Very sadly, under the current 3 Democrat Legislators, that has not happened because my opponent, for one, has voted against NC teacher pay raise multiple times. Please check his voting record and be informed. It’s not hard to find.

Hi Joanne – sure. Please see Do Some Teachers Lie? Part II. We posted each of your teacher lobby’s replies and responded. Thank you for that opportunity. General Assembly candidate Marilyn Brown offers a unique insight into the deeper story.